Gotcha. Yeah, that scene is really random... It was necessary, and I don't see how Polanski could have done it any other way, but it's very, very confusing. (It would have worked better on the page, I think.)

Ok, here's the deal with the blond chick(**SPOILER if you haven't seen the movie**): You remember the engraving that he finds at the end? With the girl riding a many-headed serpent? That's her. The engraving is a reference to a passage from Revelations, which describes a woman who will come, naked, riding a seven-headed serpent. (Don't remember the exact wording; I'll have to look it up.) Her name is Babylon, and she's the Queen of Harlots. She's also a 'fallen angel' which explains the scene where she flies down under the bridge to fight that other guy for Dean Corso. That help? I don't think I would've gotten it myself, except I was watching it with a group of Bible scholars. The engraving at the end made it make a little more sense for me, but the sex scene was horrid. Hope that explains it for you!

You're welcome! You mean the book from the movie? About the Kingdom of Shadows? Probably not. I mean, it might, but if anything it's probably just a rumor. You know, like all the various theories about Jack the Ripper -- nobody can *really* prove anything, but they come up with ideas all the time.

hey hey! i thought the cool twist at the end of the movie was that johnny was the anti christ! cause the picture at the, of the 7 headed thing or whatever, is the anticrist and the sheila was riding it and then she had sex with him... and the stuff in the scriptures happened to him... according to my brother!

apparently roman polanskis' movie before it called rosemarys baby is about the birth of anticrist which is kinda the prequell of the ninth gete!

Pfft -- no. It almost sounds like a plausible theory, but that's too much of a stretch. The anti-christ is satan incarnate -- not a guy looking for satan, however evil he might be. Sooo, I think your brother's probably just pulling your leg.

Oh, I'd love to check out something like that! Not to conjure up the devil, mind you, but just to check it out. Like you said. And the only reason I knew all that stuff about the blond chick is I watched it the first time with a bunch of Bible scholars, and one of them was really into Revelations. So, they had a pretty good idea what was going on before any of us saw it. (Although I'm sure this particular person did some extra research just for the sake of the movie.) I can't give myself too much credit for stuff like that -- I'm not a good researcher, I just hang out with them.

EDIT: By the way, you can just call me Rhoda, or PHF, if that's easier.

why is it too far fetched? the picture at the end is of her riding the antichrist outside that building! it makes sense to me! the prequell is about the birth of the anticrist and johnnys character doesnt know he is the antichrist

ah ha! found a really good explanation! hope it fits! he he eh!1. Balkin committed all of the murders (Except the first murder. Corso's partner was killed by the "albino"; you could see his feet in the window right before the witch chased him off.) to get the etchings from all three books; this is obvious because at the end of the film Balkin has all nine etchings by "LCF" in his possession from all three books.

2. Johnny Depp was Lucifer LOST in the human realm; you can see this for several reasons. One, the nature of the keys, the purpose of these etchings created by LCF at an earlier time are to act as a sort of 'popcorn' trail from the earthy realm back to his own realm and are the keys to the ninth gate, or the realm of Lucifer. All of the events represented in each key (etching) was happening in real life to Corso (Depp). The woman helping him was the witch...early on in film in the lecture scene Balkin makes reference to "helpers" of Lucifer should he (Lucifer) become entangled in the human realm (and need help returning to his realm).

These helpers were witches that Lucifer would endow with certain gifts (power and youth; remember the helping-woman's physical strength, and how she was growing younger at times during the sex scene at the end.).

Corso also had the marks of the beast (fleshy weaknesses) in the scriptural sense, these were his addictions, alcohol and cigarettes, fornicating (sex outside of wedlock) and his unscrupulous business dealings, and he did not have any close personal relationships (aside from his business partner who was in his life to locate buyers to help him (Corso) make money) but lived for money.

Visually and characther-wise there were some additional clues to Corso's true identity as well, he was unkempt, wore a goat-tee beard and also seemed indifferent and aloof. Another clue was the fact that Corso was able to make the witch bleed, she took the blood and made three bars on his forehead, in the modern myth, this marking of three or of three sixes on the forehead is the mark of the beast.

Now, if you pay really close attention to what Balkin is saying in his lecture in the first part of the film then you will be able to figure all of this out. At the end of the film Corso is returning to his realm, opened only after he has experienced the ninth key. The woman in the ninth-key-etching is in fact the same woman helping him.

And in the ninth etching/key she is riding a three-headed beast (the symbol for Lucifer after his fall from grace) in the nude, this is a representation of the sex scene in which Corso is in the place of the three-headed beast therefore Corso is Lucifer. However, even in the etching, the beast is locked out of the castle, his realm, the ninth gate, and it is the witch who holds the book in one had and points the way towards the gate with her other hand. At then end of the film after the witch has recieved more power (youth via sex with Lucifer/Corso, also another popular imagery whereby witches gain power from Lucifer) she then points the way for Corso/Lucifer to find entry into his realm by leaving a copy of the fake etching on the car window with the name of the location of the real etching written across it. This chain of events fufills the requirments of the covenent between Lucifer and his witch-helper depicted in the last key.

This film is an allegory of the story of Lucifer, who, after his fall from grace, becomes so embroiled in fleshy, earthly, i.e."beastly" pleasures that he forgets where he comes from or how to return home. Satan and the devil are not and never were Lucifer, and vice versa. You will also notice that Satan and the devil are not mentioned in the film. Lucifer is a modern embellishment created circa 539 a.d. by Emperor Justinian I, The Justinian Code, in Constantinople...whereby the systematic interpolation of certain scriptures into new teachings (burning in hell, etc.) designed to scare/intimidate folks into paying their taxes (tithing) was undertaken.

This film was not meant to be obvious, but rather esoteric and subtly symbolic, so if you keep this in mind and pay close attention the film will make sense.

Wow -- nice research, Anna. I'm impressed! But.....nah, I still don't buy it. It's an interesting theory, but I don't believe it. For one thing, I don't think vices like money-grubbing and alcoholism are rare enough to count as mortal vices indicative of Satan Incarnate. The rest of it though -- that's pretty sharp. I'll run that by my Bible-thumpers and see what they think.